Who Am I?
by AlphaLuna87
Summary: Courtney, the daughter of Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt, has been kidnapped. Will Piper and her sisters, the famous Charmed Ones, find her in time?
1. Who Am I?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 1 - Who Am I?

Her head hurt. Why did her head hurt? Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking several times to adapt to the glaring light coming from a torch bracket on the wall above her head. She tried to sit up but was somehow being restrained. It was then that she realised her hands and feet were bound by rope. As she looked around she could see that she was in some sort of cave. Where was she? Wait! _W__ho_ was she?  
"Ah, I see you're awake," whispered a disembodied voice. She quickly looked around searching for who ever had spoken.  
"Who are you? Where am I?" She asked. For some reason her eyes were drawn to the darkest corner of the cave. The longer she stared at the shadows the more solid they became and before she could register what had happened there was a man dressed in black standing before her.  
"My name is Marcus Affreux and you are in the Affreux Compound of the Underworld." The Underworld? Why did that sound familiar? All she knew was that this guy made her feel uneasy and she wanted to get as far away from him as possible.  
"What happened? How did I get here?"  
"All these questions will be answered in time," replied Marcus as he began to slowly pace in front of her.  
"I want them answered **now**!" _Okay this guy is freaking me out,_ she thought.  
"Dear, dear Courtney. Always in such a rush." Courtney? Was that her name? It felt familiar but sounded very wrong coming from this man's lips. "What's the matter Courtney, you look confused. Is there something wrong? Missing memories perhaps?" Courtney's eyes widened in shock.  
"You! You did this, didn't you? You, you somehow wiped my memories. Why? Why did you do this to me!" She yelled as she frantically struggled to loosen the rope. But, to her dismay, they didn't even budge. Submitting to defeat she looked up and stared him straight in the eye, but had to quickly look away because what she saw terrified her. What she saw wasn't even human. It was evil. Pure evil. As if sensing her fear, Marcus burst into laughter.  
"Dear Courtney you always were the feisty one weren't you? Yes, it was me who kidnapped you, who brought you here and erased your memories."  
"I'll ask again why?"  
"Simple my dear..."  
"DON'T CALL ME THAT! You can't kidnap me, erase my memories and then call me dear!"  
"Like I was saying, it's simple my_ dear_. You come from a powerful line of Witches..."  
"Witches?" she asked sceptically.  
"YES WITCHES! Now will you stop interrupting? As I was saying you come from a long line of powerful Witches. Your mother and aunts were the most powerful thus far. That was until you were born"  
"Me?" She was finding it hard enough to believe in Witches but to be one her-self was even more unbelievable.  
"Yes you. You see whilst pregnant with you your mother had the unfortunate accident of running into a Vampire and Werewolf on the same night, both of which obviously attacked her. Fortunately for her, her Wendigo genes, which are still present from a prior transformation, counteracted the new Vampire and Werewolf genes rendering them useless. But," now he seemed to get excited with his story because he had stopped pacing and was now crouched down in front of her.  
"But?" she asked urging him to continue.  
"But, not before some of those genes had entered your body."

"So what are you saying, I'm part Witch, Vampire and Werewolf?"  
"In a manner of speaking, yes you are. I don't know if you've noticed but you have turned your back to the light. Why?" he asked as he leaned closer.  
"I don't know," she answered defiantly, but the truth be told she didn't.  
"I do. You see without your memories you are forced to rely on your instincts. Instincts created by your Vampire and Werewolf genes. You can say it's a safety mechanism to ensure your survival."  
"What's that got to do with the light?"

"How will I explain this to you? You have certain senses and abilities from both the Werewolf and the Vampire. From the Vampire you have their ability to outrun the fastest human as well as an enhanced sense of sight. From the Werewolf you have enhanced senses of hearing and smell. Not to mention the ability to put a lot of force behind that nasty right hook of yours. Add these to your Witch genes, from which you can freeze time in case you were wondering, and your Whitelighter genes..."  
"Whitelighter?"  
"Yes, I guess you can call them Guardian Angels for Witches. You see you are a very powerful being Courtney. You turn from the light because it leaves your 'inner Vampire' incapable of seeing properly. Thus leaving you vulnerable"  
"OK but what has all this got to do with you? Why erase my knowledge of these things just to tell me about them?" Now she was really starting to panic. Why tell her all this? What did he want from her?

"I guess there's no harm in telling you," Marcus replied as he slowly started to straighten.  
"I plan to purge you of your Witch and Whitelighter genes, leaving only those that originate from your 'evil' counterparts. Once this is done I will do an obedience spell, if you wish to call it that, so you will, as the title implies, obey my every command. Once I have you under my control I will unleash you onto the world of 'above' to wreck havoc on the Earth. You will start by destroying your family and then move on to kill every other Witch in the world. I told you of your powers so you will know how to use them when your morals are unhinged, so there will be no hindrance when you unleash your _insatiable_ fury."  
"But how are a bunch of senses going to do any harm? Or freezing time for that matter?" This guy's crazy! I have to find a way to get out of here.  
"As I said, once your evil right and wrong will no longer apply to you. This means you won't think twice about killing innocents, which will cause the killer instincts from the Vampire and Werewolf to 'kick in'. You will use any means available to kill, be it your hands or your teeth. Not to mention your Witch powers will become lethal and you will get the ability of producing energy balls."  
"Energy balls? What the hell are they?"  
"THIS!" He hissed as he held a ball of crackling electricity just centimetres from her face.  
"And what makes you think that your plan will work?"  
"It's worked so far hasn't it?" He replied with a smirk that bordered on the line of being manic.  
"But..."  
"ENOUGH! I have had it with your pathetic questions!" He yelled just as two more men 'appeared' out of no-where.

Mean while on Earth…


	2. Search

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 2 - Search

Piper tried to focus on the T.V. with no success. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something terribly wrong. She wasn't sure if these feelings were due to something that had already happened or due to something to come. All she did know was that whenever 'it' happened 'it' was not going to be good. 'Normal' people may have thought that she was being paranoid and should just relax, but Piper knew better. If her instincts were telling her that something was wrong they were usually right. _Like 99.9% of the time_, thought Piper.

You see Piper Halliwell wasn't any ordinary woman. She and her sisters Phoebe and Paige were collectively known as the Charmed Ones, the three most powerful Witches of all time. Ever since Phoebe found the Book of Shadows around 30 years ago their instincts and powers grew with each passing year, "God, was it really that long ago?" Piper asked out loud. By now their internal 'Witch alarms' could sense evil approach before evil could even sense them. "So at least I know I'm not paranoid or going crazy," Piper said in an attempt to ease the knot in her stomach, which she had had since waking. "Oh well, when in doubt clean" she said to the too quiet manor.

As she heaved herself off the settee she noticed that the Manor hardly needed cleaning, _but hey no harm in giving it another once over right?_ Busy in her thoughts Piper never noticed Courtney's knee high steel toe boots lying on the floor. She never noticed them that was, until she tripped over them. As she tried to keep her balance she knocked over a photograph near the telephone shattering the glass on the wooden floor. "Damn it! Can't that girl ever clean up after herself?" Piper picked up the boots and put them in the less lethal place of the cupboard. "Well at least I have something to clean up now!" Mumbled Piper in frustration as she went to get the dustpan and brush from the kitchen. When she returned to her 'Courtney induced mess' she noticed that, ironically, the frame that had gotten smashed contained a photo of Courtney.  
_I remember when this was taken_, thought Piper as she carefully removed the photograph from the shards of glass. Out of all her children Courtney was the one that resembled her the most. She had Piper's long dark brown hair; her dark hazel eyes and was even cursed with Piper's lack of height. The photograph only made these similarities between the two of them more obvious. They were both standing next to each other, arms around each others waists with their heads leaning together.  
"Hell we even smile the same," said Piper with a smirk. As she started to clean up the glass she remembered the day that photo had been taken, it was a month ago on Courtney's 18th birthday. Both her and Leo had decided to give Courtney a surprise party with her friends and family in attendance.  
"Boy was that a mistake," mumbled Piper.

**P_iper, Phoebe and Paige had spent most of the day putting up the decorations and preparing the food, whilst Leo and Melinda, Piper and Leo's third child, rounded up the friends. They had it all planned out, Isabelle, Courtney's best friend, was going to keep Courtney at her house until 5:30 at which time she was to bring Courtney home. Well it had all gone to plan until 6:00. Little did they know that Courtney was a very cautious person who had been carrying explosive potions around with her since the age of eight. So at the chime of the clock everyone hid behind the furniture with the lights out waiting for the birthday girl to come through the door. Courtney and Isabelle arrived just as the clock finished chiming six.  
"Mum I'm home!"  
"SURPRISE!" Then without warning the room froze and the potion blew._**

"Luckily her aim was off and hit Leo instead of the crowd" said Piper as she shook her head still remembering the look of shock on Isabelle's and the family's faces. _Thank God Isabelle's part Witch and didn't freeze otherwise it would have been one messy clean up if she didn't stop Courtney from throwing the second potion_, thought Piper whilst straightening her back and heading to the kitchen.  
"And thank God Leo's dead already otherwise all that would have been left of him would have been his ear!" Just as she finished putting the glass in the bin the phone rang.  
"Hello?"  
"Hi Piper it's Isabelle, is Courtney there?"  
"No, she left about an hour and a half ago to meet you at your place, hasn't she turned up yet?"  
"No, I thought she was just running late that's why I didn't call earlier."  
"Have you tried her cell?"  
"Yeah, I phoned that before I phoned you."  
"Then where the hell is she? She didn't have to pick up anything for you did she?"  
"No, I don't understand it's not like Courtney to just go off and not tell anyone where she's going"  
"No it's not," said Piper as she started to frantically pace back and forth, whilst twisting the phone cable around her finger.  
"Okay, Isabelle this is what I want you to do, phone all of Courtney's friends and see if they have heard or seen her at all today."  
"And if they haven't?"  
"If they haven't then I want you to back track the way that she usually goes to your house and see if you can see any signs of a struggle. Take a high explosive potion with you just in case, and let's hope I'm just being paranoid."  
"Alright what will you do?"  
"I'll call LEO! And see if he can sense her whilst I try and Scry for her"  
"Okay. If I don't find anything I'll come to yours and see if I can help you guys find her"  
"Okay." Replied Piper, only half listening, thinking '_where is Leo?_'  
"Good luck Piper."  
"Yeah you to Izzy." Piper replaced the phone, now with a very tangled cable, back on the receiver.  
"LEO! LEO WHERE ARE YOU? I NEED YOUR HELP!" With that a sudden swarm of bright blue lights filled the kitchen. As they dissipated there stood her husband fully formed, _and as gorgeous as ever_ thought Piper, then shook her head remembering the reason she called him.  
"Piper what is it?" Asked Leo, in a worried tone, after seeing the look of fear in his wife's eyes.  
"It's Courtney; she didn't turn up at Isabelle's"  
"Well did you try her cell? You know what she's like for getting distracted halfway through something."  
"I don't know Leo." Said Piper, worry obvious in her voice, as she sat in a chair at the table. "Isabelle has already tried her cell with no success. I told her to phone all of Courtney's friends to see if any of them have seen or heard from her today. I thought you could try your 'Whitelighter radar' whilst I try to Scry for her?" Asked Piper, referring to a Witch's ability to magically find someone or something with only a crystal and map. Leo took one look at his wife and could see that she was really worried.  
"Okay, but why don't you call one of your sisters or one of the kids to come and help you?"  
"It doesn't take two to Scry Leo," replied Piper as she left the kitchen and headed for the attic, where they kept all of their magical apparatus. An hour later a very frustrated Piper was sitting on the attic floor trying very hard not to throw the useless crystal across the room.  
"NOTHING! What about you?"  
"I can't get a reading on her," replied an equally frustrated Leo as he sat down next to his wife, putting his arm around her shoulder in an attempt to keep her calm, _not to mention myself,_ he thought.  
"Well what does that mean? OH GOD! Is she..."  
"NO! I would be able to sense that no matter what"  
"Then why can't you sense her now? And why can't I find her with the crystal?" Asked Piper, rubbing her stomach trying to, yet again, loosen the knot that was becoming tighter with every minute.  
"Well without checking with the Elders there's only a couple things that I can think of."  
"Like what?"  
"Either she has been kidnapped by a Dark Priest or Priestess like Prue was that time," said Leo referring to the eldest Halliwell sister, "Or"  
"Or what?"  
"Or she's in the Underworld," replied Leo looking at Piper as a look, of what could only be described as pure fear, appeared on her face.  
"The Underworld? Why? How? Why would she be down there?"  
"I don't know. All I can think of is that she was taken against her will." _This can't be happening. Who would want her? Ha! About every demonic Faction that's who_, thought Piper. Just then the doorbell rang. Piper looked at Leo with hope in her eyes and rushed downstairs. Leo got up and followed his wife knowing all too well that the person at the door wasn't Courtney. He got to the bottom of the stairs just as Piper opened the door.

"Hey Mrs Halliwell," said a too cheerful voice.

"Oh, hey Hayley," replied Piper, with obvious disappointment in her voice.

"Not who you were expecting huh?"

"No you weren't. Ummm what _are_ you doing here?" Just as Leo reached Piper the answer to that question made itself known.

"Gah, gah, gah!" Both Piper and Leo looked down at the wriggling bundle in the pram in front of Hayley.

"I told Courtney that I could look after Faith until five-thirty and considering it is now _six_ I thought I would drop her off."

"Oh! Right, yes of course, thank you Hayley," said Piper as she carefully removed her granddaughter from the pram. Hayley pushed the pram into the hall and had just turned to leave when Piper asked, "Hayley! Wait a minute, when did Courtney drop off Faith?"

"You know Isabelle asked me the same thing. It was around three-thirty why?"

"Oh, no reason," replied Leo as he reached for the door. "Thanks for dropping her off Hayley."

"No problem Mr Wyatt," replied Hayley who was already at the bottom of the stairs.

"Tell Courtney she owes me one"

"Will do," said Leo as he waved goodbye and closed the door.

He then went into the front room and what he saw broke his heart. Piper was sitting on the settee holding onto Faith for dear life, rocking her back and forth as if by holding the daughter of her missing child would somehow bring Courtney back. Leo slowly went over and sat next to her, gently stroking her back.

"Okay, we now know that the most probable person to have seen Courtney last was Hayley, which means she would have made her way to Isabelle's from there. Piper? What is it?" Leo asked softly as he saw tears building up in his wife's eyes.

"I can't believe that I forgot about Faith. I was so caught up in finding Courtney that I completely forgot about her," replied Piper as she looked down at the drowsy baby in her arms.

"We have to find her Leo. I know what it is like to grow up without a Mother or a Father. I can't…no! I _won't_ let that happen to Faith. Why didn't she tell us who the Father was Leo? I mean he should be here, now, for his daughter."

"Lets not get into that now Piper. You know as well as I do that Courtney isn't going to tell us unless it is absolutely necessary. Let's just focus on finding Courtney, then finding a way to bring her back okay? OKAY?" He asked as he lifted Pipers chin, so she was looking him in the eye.

"Okay. Look why don't you go and ask those forever useless Elders up there if they know anything?"

"Okay. But what about you?"

"I'll go and tuck this little one in and then go and look in the Book of Shadows to see if I can find any Demon or Warlock that might be powerful enough to take Courtney."

"Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can," whispered Leo as he gave Piper a quick peck on the lips and then kissed, the now sleeping, Faith on the head before he orbed out. As if sensing Piper's stress and worry Faith began to whimper.

"Shh, shh, shh don't worry sweetie I'll find Mummy and bring her back if it's the last thing I do. I promise," murmured Piper in a soft calming voice as she headed upstairs to Courtney's room.

Out of habit Piper knocked twice before entering the bedroom. As Piper looked around at Courtney's posters of P!nk, Within Temptation, and Florence and the Machines she realised just how young she really was. Obviously she knew she was 18 but it seemed that ever since Courtney found out that she was pregnant she had grown up to almost an adult state of mind. Yet looking around Piper realised that she was in fact like any other teenager who was into music, movies, ridiculously baggy clothing and piercings.

"God, I would have killed your mother if it wasn't for her quick excuses," Piper murmured to Faith, as she tucked her into her crib, remembering how the day after Courtney's 18th she came home to find Courtney with her eyebrow pierced. "Do you know what her excuse was? She said she wanted you to have a 'cool' mum, whatever that is these days. I would have clouted her if your Grandfather hadn't held me back. Then again she is a one hell of a Mum. Even if she does use her child as an excuse for bodily mutilation." _I can't believe she is already 3 months old! She's gotten so big, and is so much like her mother,_ thought Piper as she switched the baby monitor on and turned out the light. She was just about to leave when….

"Oh I almost forgot!" Gasped Piper as she put a crystal in place. The room glowed for about a second then it went back to normal. "Your Mother would have killed me if I forgot to put the Demon alarm on," whispered Piper, who suddenly felt the knot in he stomach tighten even more, if that's possible, reminding her that her daughter was still missing.

Just as Piper reached the attic the whole room filled with bright white lights, Pipers heart felt like it stopped as she waited for the orbs to dissipate, but as they cleared there stood Isabelle. Piper gave a sigh of relief that it wasn't Leo with some bad news and hoped Isabelle had better luck than they did, then she looked at Isabelle's face and new she was in for bad news whether she wanted it or not.

"Okay Isabelle I can see from the look on your face that you haven't brought good news so just give it to me straight," sighed Piper as she picked up the Book Of Shadows and sat down on one of the many old settees in the attic. Isabelle started to nervously pace back and forth taking deep breaths mentally preparing her-self for what she had to say.

"Well I phoned everybody, that I knew of, and no-one has seen or heard from her all day, well that's a lie, Hayley had seen her when she dropped Faith off."

"Yeah we know she just brought her back about ten minutes ago."

"Oh, okay. Well when I heard this I realised she wouldn't have taken the usual route to my house, she would have taken the shortcut from Hayley's. So I left my house and started to head to Hayley's. About halfway there, in a deserted alley none the less, there were signs of a struggle."

"What kind of signs?" Asked a now, even more, panicked Piper.

"I WAS GETTING TO THAT!" Shouted Isabelle, making Piper sit back as though she had been physically pushed.

"Oh God I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout," apologised Isabelle as she sat next to Piper and put her head in her hands. Piper took one look at the girl and realised that she was just as upset about all of this as she was. _Well duh! They've only been best buds since they were foetuses_, thought Piper as she put the Book down and held the now sobbing girl in her arms.

"Shh, it's okay Isabelle. We're going to find her and everything will be back to normal you'll see. Now why don't you take a couple of deep breaths to calm yourself down and tell me what you saw?" Said a very tearful Piper. Isabelle slowly lifted her head off Piper's shoulder and gave a quiet chuckle.

"Sorry, looks like I've ruined your shirt."

"Nah, it will come out. Are you okay now?"

"Yeah. Where was I? Oh yeah. Well I entered the alley and it looked like there was…was…sorry," said a very emotional Isabelle, who was trying very hard not to let the tears fall. "It looked like there was a struggle. The bins were thrown all over the alley, the wooden planks that were leaning on the wall were broken as if something had been thrown into them and there were a couple of scorch marks on the wall, you know the type that are left from Courtney's potions? All I can say is that the situation must have been really bad or she must have been out numbered to have to have used the potions. What could have been powerful enough to have taken her?" Asked Isabelle as she looked at Piper with worry and dread in her eyes. Piper hated to say it but with no idea what to say her almost inaudible answer was,

"I don't know."

Back in the Underworld…


	3. Escape

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 3 - Escape

Marcus moved away from Courtney to go and talk to the newcomers. _Okay now's my chance. All right, he said my instincts were designed to keep me alive so maybe I should just let them tell me what to do_, thought Courtney. She gave another tug at the rope, binding her wrists, and to her surprise it broke. She looked up at Marcus and was glad to see him in a now rather heated discussion with the two Warlocks. _Warlocks? Where did that come from?_ Courtney shook her head, as if to shake off a bad dream, whilst slowly reaching for the rope that bound her ankles. With one quick tug it came undone. Slowly twisting to her feet, and keeping a very close eye on Marcus, Courtney moved into the shadows. _I can see what he meant about seeing better in the dark_, thought Courtney as she carefully listened to what was being said.

"Listen Boss, the child is very protected, we can't just Blink in there and say excuse me can we take your granddaughter," said the biggest of the two Warlocks, who was obviously getting frustrated with something, for his face was becoming red and he had started to flex the muscles in his arms as if his physical strength was enough to fight the ever increasing emotion within.

"I know she is protected Drargus, that is why I hired you and this oath!" Answered an equally frustrated Marcus. "Listen and listen well. The Witches have a crystal Forcefield around the manor, as well as a Demon trap in the foyer. Now the crystals in the Forcefield can't be moved by any form of evil, so…."

"Then how do we move 'em then?" Asked the scrawnier of the two. Courtney almost gave her position away with a chuckle as Drargus hit 'the oath' on the head.

"He was getting to that dimwit!"

"That's it Drargus! If you hit me again I'm telling mum!"

"Right that is it! I thought you were 200 not 2 Sugrard! Now will you two just shut up!" Exclaimed Marcus who was finding it very hard not to hit Sugrard himself.

"Sorry sir."

"Sorry Boss," _these guys were unbelievable! How do they get anything done,_ thought Courtney who was amazed that fully grown men could act like children. _Even Faith is better behaved than these two. Wait? Faith? Who's Faith?_

"That's more like it. Now as I was saying, the crystals can't be moved by any form of evil so all you have to do is wait for one of those useless Mortals to come along, act like you have lost the crystal and ask if they can help you look for it. Once found he or she will obviously pick up the crystal therefore deactivating the Forcefield."

"Yeah but what about the trap in the foyer?" Asked Sugrard.

"That's simple you fool, don't Blink into the foyer! Go straight into the child's room and take her. But whatever you do don't harm her. Do you understand?"

"Sure Boss, but why not just kill her and take her powers?"

"Because Drargus she is my fail safe."

"Fail safe? But I thought the plan was fool proof?"

"It is but there is no such thing as being over precautious when a Halliwell is involved. The child will be my bargaining tool if the transformation doesn't work, her child in exchange for her swearing allegiance to evil. After all no mother can bear to see her child suffer," replied a rather smug Marcus.

"But Mr Affreux Sir?"

"What is it Sugrard?"

"Well, it's just, how is she meant to remember that the little brat is hers? I mean you've already wiped her memory." Hearing this Courtney couldn't help but gasp. "What was that?!" Yelled Marcus. "Wait a minute! Where's the Witch?!"

Courtney looked around searching for a way out when she was drawn to something behind her. And there it was, an entrance to a tunnel hidden in shadow. Quickly weighing the odds she made a run for it.

"There she is! Guards seize her!" At his command three heavily armed men and an equally armed woman appeared, or rather Blinked as Courtney now knew that was what it was called, and ran after her. Seeing this Courtney increased her speed, which also increased the gap between her and her, would be, captors. _This is impossible_ thought Courtney. _I'm meant to be this Witch, Vampire, Werewolf and whatsemecallit hybrid, plus a __**mother**_?

"How old am I anyway?" Asked Courtney out loud, whilst looking at her body. She was well built, small breasted, _a little to small_ commented Courtney, with dark brown hair. And without a mirror and running for my life that's all she could make out as she rounded a corner on her right.

Back in the cave,

"Right, Drargus, Sugrard, with the Witch on the loose it looks like we're going to have to use our fail safe ahead of schedule. Go now, to the manor, and don't return without the child, _unharmed_ understand?"

"Yes Sir."

"Yes Boss," and with that they both Blinked out.

Back at the Manor…


	4. Questions

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 4 - Questions

Piper was sitting on the attic floor looking, through the aged pages of the Book of Shadows, for anything that might shed some light on their predicament. _There has to be something!_ She thought as she flipped through the ever-changing pages. Isabelle on the other hand was pacing the attic looking at the various objects that had been collected over the years but were too precious for the Halliwell to throw away, when she came across Courtney's baby album.

"Hey Piper?" Asked Isabelle in a soft tone so not to startle Piper by the sudden break of silence.

"Hmm?" Replied Piper without even looking up.

"Is it okay if I look at this?"

"What?"

"Courtney's baby album."

"Sure. You know what?" Asked Piper as she stretched out her aching back muscles. "Why don't you come over here and we can both look at it together?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I could use the break. Too much Book of Shadows turns my brain to mush, so a distraction could be a good thing," said Piper as she got up to sit on one of the settees, silently praying that Leo was having better luck than her in finding out what was going on. "God my back's killing me! How long have I been sitting like that?" moaned Piper.

"For about 30 minutes," replied Isabelle as she sat next to Piper. Once comfortable she turned to the first page, which showed a _very _pregnant Piper sitting on the downstairs settee with two boys and a girl. "Oh my god! Is that Wyatt?" She asked, pointing to the boy of about eight years with sandy brown hair and green eyes, not to mention a big toothless grin. "He looks a lot like Leo even back then."

"Yeah he sure does," replied Piper with a smirk.

"What?"

"Hmmm!? Oh nothing"

"Chris looks a lot like you, you know?"

"You reckon?"

"Oh yeah. I mean look at him." Said Isabelle pointing to the boy of about seven years.

"He's got your eyes, your hair and your nose. I think it's safe to say that these two are very biased when it comes to who they get their looks from."

"Biased?" Asked Piper with amusement in her voice.

"Yeah! Wyatt looks like Leo's double and Chris is a taller male version of you."

"I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that."

"Oh you know what I mean!"

"Yeah."

"Hey!"

"What?"

"Do you realise that Melinda looks nothing like you or Leo?" Said Isabelle as she pointed to the very happy four years old.

"Yeah, she gets her looks from Prue."

"Prue? As in your sister Prue?"

"That would be the one. Melinda's got her hair, her eyes, height, and boobs!" Hearing that Isabelle couldn't help but laugh. "Luckily for me Prue was dead when Melinda was born other wise people would have thought I had stolen her from Prue!" Replied Piper with a smile on her face as if just the memory of her beloved sister gave her the ability to see the best of a bad situation. _And boy was this a bad situation_.

"Where was Charlotte?"

"She was at Phoebe's when this was taken. I hated having my picture taken whilst pregnant but somehow Leo snuck up on us and took this one."

Laughing at that Isabelle turned to the next pic and an

"Awwww," escaped her. "She was so cute! What happened?"

"Very funny missy!" Said Piper, as she looked at the picture in question. _It's hard to believe that this hour old baby is now my 18-year-old daughter!_ Thought Piper. 15 minutes later and they had reached the last and latest picture in the album. It was of a very exhausted Courtney, with a huge grin on her face, holding a newborn Faith in her arms. "I still can't believe that she fell pregnant. Don't get me wrong I love Faith but she was only _17 _at the time!"

"You weren't too pleased about that huh?"

"That's an understatement," said Piper, as she remembered that not too pleasant memory.

_It was one of San Francisco's infamous stormy nights and Piper was on her way home, from her club P3, when her mobile rang._

"_Hello?"_

"_Hey Mum it's me."_

"_Courtney? What's wrong?" Asked Piper, knowing that Courtney only phoned in an emergency._

"_Nothing, I was wondering when you was going to be home that's all."_

"_Why?"_

"_Oh no reason."_

"_Okay, well I'm on my way now," was Piper's hesitant reply. Something had to be wrong. Why else would she phone?_

"_I'll guess I'll see you when you get home then. See you in a bit Mum."_

"_Yeah, see you," replied Piper increasing her speed slightly. Why did my car have to break down today of all days? Thought Piper as she tried to prevent the rain from going down her back. And I didn't even bring an umbrella! _

_30 minutes later a very wet and very wind swept Piper entered the doors of the manor._

"_Hey Mum. Oh my God! You're soaked! Look why don't you have a quick shower and I do you a coffee?"_

"_Courtney are you feeling alright?"_

"_Yeah, why?"_

"_Well first of, you never make me coffee and secondly you seem a little, well, jumpy."_

"_What? No, I'm fine. Can't a girl just make a coffee for her hard working mother?"_

"_Alright fine! You win. I sure as Hell am not going to mess this up, so I'm off to the shower and you can make that coffee you seem to be eager to make."_

"_Great! See you in a few," said Courtney as she rushed to the kitchen. _

_Ten minutes a very refreshed Piper came down the stairs in her blue-fleeced pyjama top and matching blue cotton bottoms. _

"_Better?"_

"_Much thanks."_

"_Good! Umm we've run out of coffee so I made you camomile tea instead."_

"_Okay thanks. Wait a minute! There was at least half a bag of coffee beans out there this morning."_

"_Yeah that was before Melinda and Wyatt came over and you know what they're like with coffee. I mean they could drink for California." Replied Courtney with a giggle._

"_True."_

"_Umm Mum I need to tell you something."_

"_Sure what?"_

"_You might want to sit down," said a fidgety Courtney as she did so herself. Obeying Piper sat down on the settee next to Courtney.  
"Court, sweetie what is it?" asked a worried Piper as she lifted Courtney's chin and saw the unshed tears in her daughter's eyes.  
"Mum, don't hate me okay? And please try not to get mad alright?"  
"Courtney why would you even think I could do that? What's wrong? Tell me." Said Piper in her calm soothing 'motherly' voice, in an attempt to pry whatever it was that was causing her daughter so much pain? Or was it shame? She couldn't tell, mostly due to the fact that Courtney was now facing away from her.  
"Mum I'm…I'm pregnant," said Courtney in an almost inaudible response. However it was not too quiet for Piper to miss.  
"Your WHAT?!" Yelled Piper as she jumped to her feet.  
"I'm pregnant," said Courtney, in a slightly louder tone, still not looking Piper in the eye.  
"How did this happen?! When did this happen?!" Yelled Piper a she began to pace. "You're not seeing any one? Well? ARE YOU!"  
"I, I was."  
"What do you mean was?"  
"Well."  
"Please tell me that he hasn't broken up with you."  
"Not exactly."  
"What do you mean not exactly? Either he has or he hasn't. Which is it?!"  
"Well, we mutually agreed that it would be best, for all of us, if we stopped seeing each other."  
"You mutually agreed?"  
"Okay, **I** decided that it would be best for us if we stopped seeing each other. It would have been too dangerous with a baby around."  
"What do you mean 'too dangerous'? Who is he?" Asked Piper in a much calmer tone as she re-seated herself on the settee.  
"I can't say," replied Courtney. _

Piper suddenly snapped out of her memory and jumped to her feet.

"Piper? What is it?"

"I don't know," murmured Piper as she walked over to the attic window. "I just had a feeling that's all"

"A feeling?"

"Yeah, like one of the ones I get when evil is near," said Piper as she walked back over to Isabelle. "Well I can't see anything unusual, just a couple of guys talking to a woman. I guess I'm just a little bit jumpy."

"Not surprising considering," said Isabelle.

Just as Piper sat down a high-pitched alarm, similar to that of a car only higher, went off. Hearing this Piper jumped back onto her feet and ran as fast as she could to Courtney's room. Isabelle didn't know what was going on but she could tell that it wasn't good as she ran after Piper. By the time she caught up Piper was already in Courtney's room, next to a pile of ash and pinning a squirming, scrawny looking, guy to the wall by his throat.

"Who are you!" Yelled Piper. "Well?! What the hell did you want with the baby?" Hearing this Isabelle realised that Faith was crying her heart out in her cot obviously afraid of the noise and the presence of this guy, so she rushed over, picked her up and tried to sooth her with calm 'shushing' noises.

"Isabelle move that crystal on the table then take Faith downstairs and don't let her out of your sight!"

"Fine but what about you?"

"I'm gonna try and find out who this snivelling moron is and what he wanted with my Granddaughter. That's unless you want to tell me now?" Piper paused, to allow the guy to speak but he refused, or was too afraid, to do so. "No? Too bad for you." Said Piper as she threw him onto the bed and motioned for Isabelle to leave, which she gladly did, moving the crystal as she moved then shutting the door behind her. The last thing she saw was Piper blowing the guy's arm off, then him crying more than Faith.

Back in the Underworld…


	5. Memories

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 5 - Memories

Courtney was still running for her life, through the dimly lit tunnels of the Affreux compound, taking whichever turn felt best at the time. As she ran down the tunnel on her left, a swarm of dark lights formed in front of her, and before she had time to stop a guy appeared from the lights and grabbed her. As she tried to pull away his grip became tighter.

"Courtney it's ok, it's me!"

"Who are you?"

"What?!"

"I said who are you?" Replied Courtney as she wrenched her-self free from his grasp, and turned to look at him. He was around 18-19 years of age and about 5ft8" with jet-black hair and bright blue eyes. His whole outfit was as black as his hair and he was staring at her with what could only be described as concern.

"Wait. You mean you don't recognize me?" The hurt in his voice gave his emotions away.

"I … I don't know. Everything is still a blur," said Courtney as she started to back away. But then all of a sudden she received a flash of images of this guy and a girl about the same age. "Larek?"

"Yes. That's it try to … Shhh! Did you hear that?" Asked Larek as he looked behind him. It was then that Courtney heard what he must have. The sound of shuffling feet, from both sides!

"Shit! We're surrounded!"

"No. We're not. Not if you take my hand." Courtney looked from his out stretched hand into his eyes, seeing only love.

"Who _are_ you?"

"I promise I will explain _everything_ if you just take my hand," Courtney couldn't explain it, all she knew was that she was surrounded and needed to get out fast. But also her heart was telling her to trust him. Sighing in defeat she took his hand.

"Fine."

"Thank you," said Larek as he gently took hold of her hand. The next thing she knew it felt as if her body had burst into a million pieces and was moving at high speeds. Just when she was getting used to the queasiness she was whole again in a bedroom fit for a king. The room was filled with glorious oil paintings, big high backed chairs and a beautiful four-poster canopy bed.

"Where are we?"

"This is my home or rather my room."

"It's gorgeous"

"Thanks," she just looked at him and smiled.

"I love this painting," said Courtney as she moved to get a better look. It was an oil painting of Larek and the girl from her vision, _or was it a memory?_ She couldn't be sure. In the painting Larek was once again dressed in black whilst the girl was dressed in white, _talk about your opposites_, and … _she was pregnant!_ They were looking at each other with such love, that you couldn't help but smile. "Who is she?"

"She was my partner, fiancé to be precise."

"What happened to her?"

"Well as you can see she fell pregnant, so we both agreed it would be better for the baby if we stopped seeing each other."

"Why?"

"Well you could say that our families came from too different backgrounds. Any way we agreed not to see each other for the sake of the baby, but we couldn't keep it up. We kept on seeing each other in secret until she gave birth. I couldn't be there because it would have been more hassle than it was worth," seeing the look on her face he added, "Not that seeing your child being born isn't worth it, or course it is but, well it could have killed us both, literally."

"But you went and saw her and the baby after the birth anyway."

"Yeah I know, that was because I finally found a moment when none of her family was around, or mine for that matter…wait a minute! How did you…?"

"I don't know. All these things keep on popping into my head."

"Things?"

"Yeah you know, dates, names images," said Courtney as she sat on the edge of his bed.

"It's just your memories re-surfacing. Being in familiar surroundings kind of helps to counter act the spell Marcus used."

"How is being in your room a familiar surrounding?"

"Maybe this will help to answer that," said Larek as he handed her a mirror, and what she saw was almost enough to make her heart stop. It was _her_, she was

"The girl from the painting," said Courtney in awe as she touched her face to make sure it was real. Then she jumped off the bed and threw the mirror onto it. "No, this can't be happening."

"It is. Look if you sit down I will do my best to explain what is happening. Trust me, _please_?" Nodding she slowly sat her-self back down on one of the throne like chairs. Larek pulled another chair in front of her and sat down as well. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. Who am I? Who's my family? Where do I live? What _am_ I? And what are you?"

"Ok well let's start with the easy one shall we? Your name is Courtney Marie Halliwell and you just turned 18 a month ago. You are half Witch, from your Mother Piper, and you are half Whitelighter, from your Father Leo. When you were in the womb you were infected by both Vampire and Werewolf genes, but most of the characteristics are recessive in the presence of your Witch/Whitelighter genes. You have eight siblings…"

"Eight!"

"Yeah I know a lot huh? What can I say your parents like kids. Anyway there's your eldest brother Wyatt, and then there's Chris, Melinda, Charlotte, you, then the quads, Sally, Patricia, Kelley and Karl."

"How old are they?"

"Who?"

"All of them."

"Umm, I'm working from what you've told here, so if we work bottom up, the quads are 16, as I've said your 18, Charlotte is 20, Melinda is 22, Chris is…"

"24?"

"Good guess but no. He's 25 and Wyatt is 26. Umm, you live at home, in the manor, with your parents, the quads and of course Faith, but I'll talk about her in a sec. The others are usually around so often that they may as well live there and that includes your aunts and cousins"

"And what about us?"

"Me and you met about three years ago, you were 15 and I was 16. We met at a magical youth club…"

"A what?"

"Basically it's a club for the under aged who studies or practices magic. It's like a neutral ground for the magical to gather. When we met, our relationship started off with an argument about something really random, in fact I can't even remember what it was about, then I turned your hair into snakes and you turned my head into that of a pig's. At that moment we just clicked you know? It was like we were made for each other."

"Soul mates."

"_Exactly_. We kept on seeing each other but had to keep the relationship a secret."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a Warlock - Darklighter hybrid Courtney. "

"A what?"

"My Mother's a Warlock, they are the evil equivalent of Witches; my Father is a Darklighter and they are opposite of Whitelighters. You see Whitelighters are healers who guide and protect Witches and future Whitelighters. Darklighters kill Whitelighters in order to make future Whitelighters vulnerable and it also leaves their charges unprotected. You being half Whitelighter, half Witch meant you were at risk of being targeted by my parents and me being half Darklighter, half Warlock meant I would be at risk from your parents or more specifically your Mother. Then I got you pregnant and we knew..."

"That our families would fight to claim her."

"Exactly. With her ability to orb white lights as well as dark she could get up there and kill the Whitelighters and bring Darklighters to victory …"

" Or being part Darklighter meant that she could infiltrate the Darklighters and kill them off leaving the world a safer place for Whitelighters as well as future Whitelighters and their charges."

"Correct. We both agreed that for her to have a proper life she should be brought up by you, even if it meant the destruction of my race." Courtney looked at Larek whilst all this knew information sunk in. "Listen I think I know what spell Marcus used on you and the only way to reverse it, that I know of, is by a potion. I know a few good Apothecaries and I will ask them if they can make the potion. I will do everything I can to help you get your memories back Courtney I promise." Said Larek soothingly as he gently stroked her face.

"I know you will, I don't know how I know, but I know. And I think the only way for me to get a potion that truly works is for me to go home."

"I can't take you home. At least not all the way."

"Ok well from what I'm starting to remember if you take me into the open my Dad should sense me, so if I can get somewhere unprotected …"

"You'll be at risk from an attack, from any form of evil, no way. I'm not willing to do that until you at least have the memory of how to use your powers back."

"Great! So am I just meant to stay hidden in your room until they decide to re-surface?" Asked Courtney as she stood up and started to impatiently pace back and forth.

"No, like I said, I know a few good Apothecaries, literally good, and one of them should be able to make the potion."

"Are you sure?" Asked Courtney as she slid onto his lap as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Yup. But the only problem is that it could take up to two days, depending on what ingredients are needed."

"What! And how are you meant to keep me hidden from your family until then?"

"Let me worry about that." Said Larek as he picked her up and put her on his bed.

"For know you just sleep because you must be exhausted, whilst I go and find out how much this potion is going to cost me," smirked Larek, receiving a smile from Courtney.

"Ok but don't take to long."

"I won't I promise," a promise which he sealed with a kiss, then he turned and picked up a small box and headed for the door.

"What's in the box?"

"Just a few crystals, which I'm gonna use to hide your signature."

"Oh ok. Good luck."

"I create my own luck."

"Sure you do," and with that Larek left the room leaving Courtney by herself. Just before she fell asleep she heard the distant sound of chimes indicating that it was half six and couldn't help thinking that she was late for something. Something important.

In the Heavens…


	6. Elderly Aid

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 6 - Elderly Aid

"What do you mean you can't sense her!" Yelled Leo as he paced back and forth in front of a line of robed people, in an overly bright hall.

"Exactly what we said Leo," replied one of the men.

"We're Elders _not_ miracle workers," continued one of the female Elders. Leo stopped pacing and looked her square in the eyes, his pain evident in his.

"Letizia you have to have some idea of what's going on. Don't you?" Letizia looked at the other Elders and with a sigh she left the formation and led Leo out of the Hall. Once alone she stopped and turned him to look at her.

"Leo I'm sorry but we don't know where Courtney is or who would be after her," Leo was about to reply but she put her hand up to prevent him.

"But…our contacts have informed us that there is a rise of power in the Underworld. Quite possibly someone is collecting power to become the new source."

"But I thought the sisters vanquished all the possible threats?"

"They did at the time. But you know as well as I do, that if a great force of good is born…"

"An equally powerful force of evil is born," continued Leo.

"Precisely," said Letizia.

"But what has this got to do with Courtney's disappearance?" Letizia gave him a 'you must be kidding me' look then said,

"Leo do I really have to answer that?" Then saw the look of confusion on his face so continued, "Courtney is very powerful Leo. Even more so than her Mother and considering Piper is coming up to High Priestess status you can imagine how powerful Courtney is."

"So this 'Evil' kidnapped her to kill her and take her powers?"

"No, we don't think that is the case."

"So, then why? I don't understand."

"_Obviously_. Look Leo we have a theory, keep in mind that's all it is, but we think she was taken to be converted."

"Converted?"

"To evil. Can you imagine the damage she could cause if she was turned?" Just then another Elder came out of the Hall.

"Letizia the meeting is about to commence. Your presence is required."

"On my way. Thank you Zoticus," with a nod of his head Zoticus re-entered the Hall.

"Look Leo all I can do is advise you to advise the sisters to go to the Underworld. _Not_ to kill, but to listen."

"You mean spy?"

"If you wish. They should do this to try to find out who this 'power' is. I believe once they know this they will find Courtney," with that she turned and walked back to the hall. Before the doors closed Leo whispered a faint,

"Thank you," then orbed back to the manor to tell Piper what he had found out.

Back at the Manor…


	7. Sisters

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 7 - Sisters

Isabelle was sitting on the settee with a now calm Faith in her arms.

"Well it doesn't take a genius to figure out what your Grams is up to now, does it?" asked Isabelle, receiving a big toothless grin from Faith.

"Oh you're so cute! Yes you are!" cooed Isabelle as she tickled Faith's belly, setting her into a fit of giggles. There was a creak on the stairs, which stopped Isabelle's attack on the baby. She looked up, and released her breath she didn't know she was holding, as she saw Piper descend the stairs. "Hey, how did it go?"

"Well…" Piper stopped her sentence short as blue orbs appeared in front of her, signalling her husband's arrival. When the orbs dissipated Piper jumped straight in with the questions. "Leo. Did you find out what's happening?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of? What kind of answer's that?" Asked Isabelle as she passed Faith to Piper, who gave a 'be quiet' look in response. "Sorry."

"It's ok. The Elders don't know for sure what's happening but they believe Courtney has been taken to be turned evil."

"Evil?" Hearing this Isabelle dropped back onto the settee.

"That's what the Warlock said," added Piper as she sat beside Isabelle.

"Warlock? What Warlock?" Asked Leo, looking from Isabelle to Piper back to Isabelle again.

"Don't look at me, Piper was the one who caught him."

"Caught him? Caught whom? Piper?"

"His name was Sugrard. Him and his brother, Drargus, blinked into Faith's room hoping to kidnap her. They didn't know about the Demon alarm, which went off. I went to Faith's room and blew up Drargus and kept Sugrard for… questioning."

"Questioning?" Asked Leo as he sat opposite her.

"Okay, torturing! Any way he said another Warlock called, ummm, Marcus Affreux, hired him and his brother. He wanted Faith to bribe Courtney into turning evil."

"Wait! How did they get into the Manor in the first place?" Leo asked his face masked in confusion.

"I was just about to have a look," replied Piper as she got up and handed Faith to Leo.

"Huh? Look? Look where?"

"There are many secrets within the Halliwell family Isabelle, and you're about to learn one of them," said Piper as she opened the door and descended the stairs with Isabelle following closely behind.

When they reached the bottom, Piper turned right running her hand over the wall, as if looking for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"This," replied Piper as she bent down and picked up, what looked like to Isabelle as,

"A piece of rock?"

"No, we put a spell on it so it would look like that. It's a crystal. We have a circle of them around the manor, which creates a Forcefield, which prevents any evil from entering the Manor," Piper said as she placed the crystal into a hole in the wall.

"There! Now all I need are my sisters." Piper then turned back around and headed back to the Manor.

"Your sisters?"

"Yup," replied Piper as she reached for the phone. Leo slowly closed the door behind Isabelle. "It takes all of us to activate the crystals…Hey Paige! I need a hand…" Isabelle turned to Leo.

"Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"If the Forcefield is meant to stop Demons coming through then how can they touch them?"

"They can't."

"Then how come…" Isabelle finished the sentence by pointing to the wall through the door.

"They must have got a passer by to get it. Only good witches or innocents can get it out."

"The woman!"

"Woman? What woman?"

"When Piper and I were in the attic she saw two blokes out of the window. They were talking to this woman. They must have been the Warlocks!"

"Okay well get her as soon as you can and orb over here A.S.A.P." And with that Piper put the phone down.

"Alright, Prue's in a meeting at the moment, but as soon as she's out Paige will orb her and Phoebe here."

"Okay… WAIT! Did you say _Prue_?"

"Uh huh."

"As in your _dead_ sister Prue?"

"Yup."

"But... How…. You said she was in a meeting!"

"She is."

"But why would a dead woman be in a meeting?"

"Because she isn't dead," replied Piper with a smirk.

"Okay now you've lost me."

"Maybe we should sit back down?" Suggested Leo, which they all did. Once comfy Piper began.

"Okay Prue died in 2002, whilst protecting an innocent. In 2010 when Paige was pregnant, with the Triplets, The War broke out."

"The War?"

"Between good and evil," added Leo as he adjusted Faith in his arms.

"Oh," was all that Isabelle managed to say.

"Anyway, with Paige being pregnant and with The War going off left, right and centre we couldn't risk her getting hurt. So we hid her in the Magic School, with her being the headmistress it gave us a bit of an advantage of knowing the 'hidden' area's so we could make sure only we knew where she was. But that left us without the Power of Three, and with all the evil out there that needed to be vanquished; we needed the Power of Three. And that was when the Elders intervened. They saw the plight we were in and did the only thing they could, they brought Prue back. That way Paige was safe in hiding, and we had the Power of Three".

"But what about your kids?"

"Well, Thomas, Paige's first husband, was with her and they both looked after our first four, Phoebe and Cole's kids as well as their own kids Elizabeth and the twins. With them in hiding Phoebe, Prue and myself set off with as many Witches and Whitelighters we could find. But unbeknown to Phoebe and me we were also pregnant. It was during The War that I was attacked by a Werewolf and Vampire."

"Which is what caused Courtney to get the genes," finished Isabelle, nodding her head in understanding.

"Which is why she has been targeted by this Warlock," added Piper.

"But why has Courtney never told me this? I mean we've known each other our entire lives, we never keep secrets from each other," mumbled Isabelle as she stared down at her lap. Piper reached over and gently tilted Isabelle's face towards her so she could look her in the eyes and was shocked to see unshed tears.

"Isabelle listen the whole family is forbidden to tell anyone about Prue. The only exception is if we marry someone but I can tell you this, Courtney and I have had endless arguments about this. She has always seen you as a sister and felt you had a right to know about Prue. She wanted to tell you the truth but couldn't."

"I don't understand."

"We can't tell anyone about Prue because the Elders are concerned that if the Underworld find out she is alive it could cause another war."

"But wouldn't they have seen her during The War?"

"No. What they saw was Phoebe, _Paige_ and myself during the fights. Not Prue."

"A Camouflage spell? To make her look like Paige?"

"Precisely. Once The War was over we gave her a new identity. To the world she is now Amanda Winterheart…" Hearing this Isabelle had to interrupt.

"No way! The Photographer? I love her work and Courtney knows that!"

"We know," replied Leo giving Isabelle an apologetic grin. "That's one of the reasons why Courtney was constantly arguing with Piper over this issue."

"I don't believe it," muttered Isabelle, shaking her head. Piper reached over and took Isabelle's hand.

"As far as the world knows 'Amanda' is our distant cousin but now that we have told you the truth you will be able to see through the spell. And when this is over I'm sure Prue will be delighted to give you a hand with your photography coursework." Hearing that Isabelle couldn't suppress the grin that appeared on her face.

It was then that bright blue orbs appeared in the hallway, telling them Piper's sisters had arrived. When the orbs vanished Piper went over and gave her sisters a hug, which they gladly returned. When they separated Piper quickly turned away so they wouldn't see the tears building in her eyes.

"Piper what's wrong?" Asked all three in unison.

"Nothing! I just need you guys to say the spell, for the crystals, with me," replied Piper, wearing a false smile in the hopes that her sisters wouldn't see how upset she was. _God I don't want them to find out, otherwise they will think I'm a useless Mother_, thought Piper. Phoebe gave her a funny look, which Piper decided to ignore, and linked hands with Prue and Phoebe, who then linked hands with Paige forming a rough circle. Together they all took a deep breath and one by one began to chant:

"With the power of four,

This house will see evil no more. (Prue)

With the power of four,

This house will see evil no more. (Piper)

With the power of four,

This house will see evil no more. (Phoebe)

With the power of four,

This house will see evil no more. (Paige)

WITH THE POWER OF FOUR,

THIS HOUSE WILL SEE EVIL NO MORE!"

When all four sisters said the spell together, Isabelle watched in awe as all four sisters began to glow different colours; Prue a baby blue, Piper a soft red, Phoebe a pale white and Paige a deep green. In a sudden movement the colours left their hosts and combined together in the middle of the circle spinning faster and faster then they suddenly took off upwards, through the ceiling. When Isabelle looked back at the sisters, they were staring out of the window. Following their gaze she saw a string of the colours falling to where the crystal was hidden. And then just as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared.

"Okay. Well that was…interesting," said Isabelle with a laugh. As Piper was about to walk over to Leo to gather her Granddaughter Prue grabbed her by the shoulders, spun her around and said,

"Okay spill! What's wrong?" Unable to keep it in any longer Piper broke down, again, in her sister's arms and replied,

"It's Courtney. She's been taken."

Back in Larek's room…


	8. Revelation

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 8 - Revelation

_Darkness. It was everywhere. She ran and ran but there was no end in sight. She could hear footsteps; hurried, heavy footsteps. They were everywhere surrounding her, suffocating her. She couldn't escape. Then she heard it, a faint cry. Not a cry for help but a … baby's cry? She spun in the darkness but couldn't see where the baby was. It sounded upset, alone, scared. Then just like before a name came to her,_

"_Faith!" She yelled, her voice echoing in the darkness of the void. "FAITH!" She yelled again, only louder, stronger. And as if sensing her as a threat the darkness began to disperse leaving her a trail of light to follow. She ran faster than she has ever run before. The cries got louder, nearer. When she finally came to a stop there laid the most beautiful child she had ever seen. Gently lifting her up, she laid her on her shoulder and began to rub her back and murmur gentle words to sooth the child. _

"_There there Faith it's ok, Mummy's here. Shhhh, it's ok." As if taking in her mother's strength the infant stopped crying and was content to lay there until an overpowering force pulled Faith from her mother's arms. _

"_No!" Screamed Courtney as she tried to run after her daughter but found herself being held back. And she watched helplessly as her screaming baby was taken away back into the darkness. Everything started to go black as she pulled against her unknown captor yelling "FAITH!" _

Courtney awoke screaming the name from her nightmare.

"Faith! Oh God." She rubbed her face in an attempt to rid herself of her nightmare. But instead of getting rid of the memory it gave her more, of monsters, men with strange eyes, weird looking weapons and … "Mum" she could remember everything; her parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. The day she met Larek, the day Faith was conceived, the day Faith was born. She had all of them back. This meant,

"I can go home," a grin appeared on her face. She looked at the clock and the smile disappeared instantly. It was half eight and Larek still wasn't back. She got out of bed and went over to one of his 'Royal Chairs' as she remembered calling them, on the way she picked up a photograph of Larek and herself from his bedside table. Sitting down on the chair, and with a death grip on the photo, she closed eyes and forced herself to relax. When she finally felt ready she opened her mind, allowing it to reach out for the one it craved. When her mind reached Larek's it quickly withdrew, and with a sharp intake of breath her eyes shot open. "Larek," she said in barely audible whisper. He was in pain so much pain, and it was all her fault. They knew she was down here, they knew he knew where she was and they were going to get the information the only way they knew, torture. But what they were doing was worse than any Mortal torture and she knew it. 'Darklighters can't die at the hands of another Darklighter' that's what Larek once told her. And now a Darklighter was testing that statement. He was putting Larek through hell to find her, and he didn't even care that it was his _son_! Feeling sick to her stomach she slowly stood and began to pace back and forth. "I've got to help him but how?" That's when it hit her. "Mum. But I can't get her help without telling her about Larek and me. And then if the Elders found out they could try to take Faith," realising that she was mumbling she clamped her mouth shut and came to a decision. She was going to tell them. She was going to tell them that the love of her life, her soul mate and the father of her child was in danger and that he was a Darklighter. She had to, because she knew that even she couldn't face his family alone and survive. With a deep calming breath she mentally prepared herself for what lay ahead and orbed her-self out to her home, to her family and to her baby girl.

Back at the Manor…


	9. Reunion

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter 9 - Reunion

Piper was sitting in the middle of the settee, with Paige to her right, Prue to her left with Phoebe sitting opposite to her on the armchair. Standing behind her was Isabelle and Leo, who was still holding, a now sleeping, Faith. They were all listening intently as she told her sisters of the day's events.

"And the last time she was seen was around three thirty by Hayley." Finished Piper. Suddenly feeling drained; emotionally as well as physically she leaned against Paige for support, who willingly held her in a comforting embrace that only she seemed to be able to do. They all sat there for a moment in silence each in her own world trying to come up with a plan to get Courtney back. Just as Prue was about to speak the room filled with white/blue orbs and before they even dissipated Faith orbed from Leo's arms straight into her mothers. "Oh my God! Courtney!" Before she could even reply Piper grabbed her in a bone-crushing hug as if she was never going to let her go.

After a few minutes like this Courtney managed to wiggle enough out of her mothers embrace to get some much needed air and replied with a faint

"Hey Mum."

"Where have you been?" asked Leo as he grabbed his daughter into another hug, only this time he took care not to crush Faith.

"In the Underworld," hearing their fears confirmed froze everyone to their spot. "If we all sit down I'll give you the cliff notes version".

"Sweetie you don't have to tell us now, why don't you go and have a rest huh?" asked Phoebe. Being an Empath meant she could sense her niece's emotions, and right now all she sensed was a pain and fear so intense she felt like she was going to drown.

"No, I have to tell you now if we want to save Larek." Said Courtney as she sat down. Slightly confused Piper sat next to her daughter as the others took their places around the room.

"Larek? Who's he?" Feeling her friends discomfort Isabelle moved behind Courtney and held her shoulder as a way of saying 'don't worry I'll be here for you'. Absorbing her friends support Courtney looked Piper straight in the eye and calmly said,

"Larek is the man who saved me from certain death 'down there'. He is also my fiancé and the father of your Granddaughter". Hearing Courtney talk about Faith's father for the first time, ever, brought the whole room to silence. The only response came from Piper, which was a faint

"Huh."

"Wait a minute! You said he saved you from 'down there'. How did he do that unless he is magical?" asked Leo. Courtney looked at her father with what could only be described as pure fear in her eyes. Seeing that his wife was about to bombard her with questions, no doubt about this Larek, he decided to butt in first for once.

"Never mind that for now, forget I asked. Why don't you tell us what happened to you first, and then go on to tell us about this Larek and how he's in trouble, okay?"

"Okay". Replied Courtney as she took a deep breath whilst adjusting Faith on her lap, and then sat as far back into the sofa as she could. "Okay. So I was meant to go to Isabelle's today because we were going to head to the cinema to watch the remake of that film, umm what was it called Izz?"

"Huh? Oh, Fantastic Four."

"Yeah that was it. Anyway I knew today was your day off from any 'P3 related business' as you put it so I didn't want to bother you with baby sitting..."

"It isn't a bother Courtney!"

"Piper let her finish first then have a go at her ok?" said Prue. She could tell this was hard for Courtney and she didn't want to throw the girl off by having Piper interrupting her.

"Sorry honey. Carry on"

"It's okay. So ummm, yeah I didn't want to bother you with the babysitting duty so I asked Hayley if she would do it and she said she would. So when I left here I headed to Hayley's then took the short cut from there to Isabelle's; it was when I got to the alley that I was ambushed." Courtney shivered slightly just remembering what happened.

_She was walking down the alley towards Isabelle's when she heard footsteps. Thinking it was just another bystander she kept on walking and being too caught up in her thoughts she didn't realize she was surrounded until she was half way through the alley. Sizing up her odds she realized they were not in her favor so she tried to orb out but to no avail._

"It was then that I realized just how much trouble I was in. I called for Dad and when he didn't come I knew I was screwed."

_She ran. That was all she could do, strike them before they went for her and hoped the element of surprise would be enough. It wasn't, somehow they knew what she would do and was prepared for it. As her fist connected with the first Demon a second jumped her from behind and threw her into the wall, slightly dazed she barely managed to dodge the energy ball sent her way. She threw up her hands hoping to freeze them but only managed to freeze two. Which meant the other eight were all upper level demons and there was no way she would be able to fight them all. The only thing she could do was attempt to lure them into groups so she could try and do a mass vanquish with her potions so she ran towards the weaker looking of the group which made the others join together as they ran after her. Stopping suddenly and spinning on them she threw her potions at the two new 'groups', which had its desired effect. As the vials exploded the Demons that were right next to them blew up and the ones who weren't were sent flying into the wall, unfortunately though the demons she ran at weren't as weak as they seemed. When she turned around two large green scaled things were in their place, it was then that she realized she was face to face with two very large Vulquito Demons, which wasn't good considering these guys were usually the Source's bodyguards. Before she had a chance to react the one on her left hit her in the head, which knocked her unconscious. _

"When I awoke I was in the Underworld with no recognition of what I was or even who I was. Marcus, the Warlock who was holding me hostage, told me his plans to unleash me onto the world so I could destroy it and you guys. If I didn't join willingly they were going to use Faith as a way of blackmailing me into turning evil."

"That explains where the Warlocks came from." Said Piper as she leaned back into the sofa, having found herself on the edge of her seat.

"Warlocks? What warlocks? Wait let me guess. Drargus and Sugrard right?"

"Yeah how did you know?" Courtney re-adjusted Faith on her lap and held her tight, her nightmare still lingering in the back of her mind.

"They were in the Underworld. Marcus told them to come up here and kidnap Faith."

"Sons of a …"

"Mum!" yelled Courtney before Piper could finish her sentence.

"I never thought I would have to tell you to watch your language."

"Huh?" Piper then realized what she was about to say said and looked at Courtney guiltily. "Yeah sorry about that."

"Your just lucky Faith wasn't awake or you would have been in real trouble," said Courtney in mock anger as an attempt to break the tension, which had slowly surrounded them like a thick fog.

"So we now know how you got in the Underworld. Care to share how you got out?" asked Piper in an attempt to coerce the answer out of her now quiet daughter. Courtney looked her mother square in the eye and said,

"Are you sure?"

"Yes" was Piper's reply. Courtney took a deep breath and began.

"OK well Marcus some how managed to erase my memories so I didn't remember who I was, who you guys were, not even who _Faith _was. All I knew was that he was not a 'good guy' and I wasn't safe, so somehow I managed to break my bindings and make a run for it. It was when I was being surrounded that Larek orbed in…"

"_Orbed_ in!"

"Mum please, this is hard enough as it is."

"I'm sorry, it's just I'm confused and worried about you."

"I know but please just let me get it all out before you loose it okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright so he orbed in and took me to his room. Once there he started to help me get my memories back by telling me who I was and telling me things about my life. He then left to go and meet up with an Apothecary to see if he could get a potion to help me get all of my memories back; before he left he placed a crystal forcefield around his room so his parents and Marcus wouldn't be able to sense me. I fell asleep for a couple of hours, well had a nightmare for a couple of hours. When I woke up my memories were unsealed or released or _something _because I suddenly remembered who I am, and who you guys are. Once I woke up properly I realized Larek still hadn't returned so I tried to sense him; I managed to do it but when I linked my mind to his I realized he was being tortured by his _parents_. Tortured because they wanted to find _me_" tears start to fall down her cheeks as she tries to keep her emotions in check. "You see Larek is half Darklighter half Warlock making Faith one Quarter Darklighter, one quarter Whitelighter one quarter Warlock and one quarter Witch. That is why they wanted to find me because if they find me they find Faith." Faith started to stir as the room fell into a shocked silence; Courtney lifted her up and lovingly nuzzled her cheek. Piper blinked a couple of times in an attempt to gather her thoughts.

"He's a…a…_Darklighter_!" she jumped off the settee and began to pace in the two feet of available space.

"Piper calm down."

"Clam down! Leo did you even hear what she just said?"

"Of course I did but loosing it will not help!" Replied Leo hoping to calm her down. Courtney looked up at Piper; eyes filled with tears, and in a husky voice whispered, "I'm sorry Mum. I know I've disappointed you but you have to understand I love him, and he loves me. He's not like other Darklighters or Warlocks, he never has been. I know he's not what you wanted for me but tough! I love him and he has risked his life to save me and is now being tortured for it, by his own parents! Can you imagine what that must be like for him? Being betrayed and harmed by his parents? The very people who are meant to look after him!" Still pacing Piper started to blurt out random questions in attempt to subdue her shock.

"When did all this happen? How long have you been seeing each other? How could this happen!"

"Well if you stopped yelling for two minutes I might be able to tell you!" Piper just looked at her and sat down, not saying a word.

"Okay well we met at the club 3 years ago…"

"3 years! I knew that club was a mistake"

"It wasn't a mistake Mum; it's a good way of getting the different sides together, on neutral ground. You know as well as I do that there have been fewer killings amongst the younger generations than there has ever been!" Before Piper could reply Leo interrupted,

"How about we forget how this happened and concentrate on the issue at hand shall we? How are we gonna get Larek out of the Underworld with the minimal risk of reparations?" Piper looked at Courtney who had taken to slowly stroking Faiths hair.

"I'm still not sure he's worth the risk." She held up a hand to stop Courtney yelling at her, "What I mean is, if we save him how do we know that he won't turn on us? Not to mention we will probably have to vanquish his parents. How will he take that? All I want to know Courtney is that are you sure that he won't turn on us?"

"Positive. He isn't evil mum I _know_ he isn't. He won't betray us."

"Okay, I guess that's enough for me… for now"

"Great!" said Phoebe as she stood up. "So does any one know how we might go about saving him?"

"I might have an idea," replied Prue and Paige in unison. With that everyone gathered around plotting how to save Larek.

Back in the Underworld…


	10. Rescue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter Ten - Rescue

Larek slowly began to come to after yet another round of endless torture. Not having enough strength to lift his head, which had become frustratingly heavy, meant he had a constant view of his chest, which was covered in open wounds, from non-stop beatings, and burns from his Mother's hands. Just then he heard slow yet determined footsteps enter the cave. Calling upon the last of his energy he lifted his head to face the woman that had just entered. She was a woman of rare beauty, with long fiery red hair that looked as if it could burn if touched and startling blue eyes that, in contrast to her hair, could chill your very soul.

"So, are you ready to talk yet?"

"I keep telling you Mother, I don't know what you're talking about!" For a moment her eyes seemed to glow as her frustration grew but then in a blink of an eye it was gone. Apparently bored of these answers she took a different route.

"Now now son, you know it pains me to see you like this."

"You're evil you don't feel sympathy or guilt; you only feel lust and a constant hunger for power!"

"That is true. However I always envisioned you by my side when I came to that power, now it looks like that idea has been thrown out of the window doesn't it? That is unless you're willing to tell me where I can find that sorry excuse of a half breed."

"GO TO HELL!"

"Look around sweetie we're already there," and with that she waves her hand sending Larek into jolts of pain as 6000 volts of electricity flows through him, unable to hold his pain in any longer he begins to scream.

Not too far away Prue, Paige and Leo are walking through one of the tunnels closely followed by Courtney and Isabelle. Just as they were about to turn a corner Courtney screamed then collapsed. Her screams die to a whimper as she curls into the foetus position on the floor. Quickly running to her friend's side Isabelle asks in concern,

"Courtney what's wrong?"

"They're hurting him again," unable to stop them the tears begin to fall. "I have to get him out, he doesn't deserve this!" Rolling onto her hands and knees she tried to lift herself up, only to succeed in loosing her balance and collapsing onto the floor again. Kneeling down Isabelle put her arm around Courtney's shoulder.

"Listen Courtney we know we need to get him out and we will, but first we need to think how we're going to do it. We can't just go blasting in there otherwise we will all die."

"Agreed," said Leo and he knelt down in front of Courtney. "We need to think about this carefully before we go all crazy OK?" Taking in their words Courtney slowly nodded her head in agreement. "Good, now first things first can you sense him?" Courtney points to the tunnel to on their right,

"He's down there," Leo nodded then stood up and walked over to Prue and Paige,

"Ok here's what we do…"

As Leo and the girls discuss the plan Isabelle wrapped Courtney in a hug. Every few seconds Courtney's body would shake as if she was being zapped with electricity.

"Why can't they leave him alone?" before Isabelle could answer Leo knelt down next to them.

"OK this is the plan; we go to the cave, then when I give you two the signal you go and release Larek and orb out of here, alright?" Isabelle nods then asks,

"But what about you guys?"

"Don't worry about us; we'll be right behind you… you ready?" Looking at each other and then looking back at Leo the friends nodded their heads in unison. "Good…Let's go then." The three of them stood and walked over to Prue and Paige who had already started to walk down the tunnel.

Larek who was barely conscious tried to control his body as it twitched constantly from the effects of the electricity. As he hung there he tried to ignore the constant pain in his shoulders and attempted to focus on the conversation between his Mother and his Father, who had decided to orb in during the middle of his 'session'.

"Listen Michael he isn't talking and I don't think he ever will. I say we get rid of him now and go looking for that…that hybrid ourselves." Shaking his head in disagreement Michael began to pace back and forth.

"I'm not sure Celeste. Do you really want to kill him? It would be a shame to loose all the power he possesses." Sighing Celeste walked over to Michael and pushed his hair out of his eyes, hair that was identical to that of her son's. _Why did that stupid boy have to go all good, didn't he know how much evil he could cause if he tried?_ Sighing in defeat she asked,

"Fine what do you suggest?"

"We lock him away and find someone who can remove his soul, that way we will truly have the son we've always wanted. Evil to the core and willing to do our biding."

"Sure great plan. That is until he escapes and hires someone to kill us!"

"OK point taken…humph… fine but I can't kill him, because of that stupid Darklighter rule and no offence but I doubt you have enough power to do it your self."

"Offense taken … So what's the plan?"

"We hire someone else to kill him; someone who will do it quick and simple."

"You always did have a soft spot for him…quick and simple it is. The question is who do we hire?"

"How about us?" Both Michael and Celeste turn to see Prue and Paige walk into the cave. Going on the defensive Michael orbed his crossbow into his hand.

"Who are you?"

"The Cavalry," replied Paige. Hearing this Michael aimed his crossbow at them and Celeste formed an energy ball; at the same time Prue and Paige disappeared to only reappear behind Michael and Celeste.

"Now now no need to get all jumpy," said Paige drawing the attention of the Michael and Celeste away from the cave entrance. Once their backs were turned Leo, who had been hiding around the corner of the cave with Courtney and Isabelle, gave the girls the signal to run. Once they were off he looked back at Prue and Paige's unconscious forms next to him and prayed that their astral selves didn't get hurt…

After hearing his parents planning his demise Larek zoned out of the conversation and was not aware of what was happening until he heard the voices of two women, voices he recognized but couldn't put names to. As he lifted his head to find out what was happening he saw Courtney, with determination written all over her face, and a girl he had never seen before running towards him. _There's the girl I fell in love with_, he thought as he gave Courtney a small smile; but unable to hold on any longer he let his head fall as he lost consciousness.

At her Father's signal Courtney ran out of the tunnel as fast as she could. When she entered the cave she noted her aunt's and Larek's parents on her left but couldn't see Larek anywhere. A spark of panic shot through her as she looked around the cave. Then she spotted him and almost cried out in shock. He was worse than she thought he was; his once smooth skin was now covered in welts, cuts, burns and Lord knows what else. _Hold on baby I'm coming!_ thought Courtney as she ran towards him. Then he looked up at her and smiled. She started to smile back but stopped as she saw his head fall onto his chest. When she saw this she feared the worst and ran even faster to reach him. Once she finally reached him she released a silent sigh of relief as she saw he was still alive, the only problem now was how on earth were they going to get him down?

Unaware of what was happening behind him Michael once again aimed his crossbow at Prue and Paige,

"I'll ask one final time who are you?" Prue made a face of mock anguish and replied,

"Now we're a little hurt that you don't recognize us…" as Prue talked, to keep their attention on her, Paige discreetly looked over to the girls and saw them lower Larek to the floor before orbing out "…however we can forgive the oversight for those with a rather low mentality." Enraged by the remark Michael shot an arrow at Paige whilst Celeste shot and energy ball at Prue. Just as the weapons were about to hit their mark both girls, once again, disappeared.

"What in the name of all things Evil is going on here?!" yelled Celeste, as she and Michael looked around the cave. Both were too distracted to notice that their son was no longer chained to the wall.

"Now surely that was uncalled for?" asked Paige as she followed Prue into the cave. Yelling in frustration Michael once again shot an arrow at Paige, only this time instead of disappearing she raised her hand and deflected the arrow back towards him, where it imbedded itself into his chest. With a look of shock and horror on his face he cried out in pain as he burst into flames and disappeared. Enraged at seeing her husband die, Celeste threw and energy ball at Prue, who like her sister used her power to deflect it back to its origins; only this time, instead if bursting into flames Celeste exploded into millions of pieces.

"That was slightly anti-climatic," said Prue as she exited the cave to meet Leo.

"Agreed."

"Well ladies don't forget we still have Marcus to vanquish."

"Right! Well hopefully he won't be any harder to fight than those two" Replied Paige as she grabbed Prue's arm. Prue rolled her eyes and in a sarcastic manner replied

"Right because they were really hard to get rid of"

"Oh you know what I meant!" Laughed Paige, as she orbed Prue and herself out. Laughing at the sisters banter Leo took one more look around the tunnel and then proceeded to orb out after the sisters.

Back at the Manor…


	11. Healing

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter Eleven - Healing

Leo orbed into the living room to see Courtney, kneeling next to the settee, trying to wake Larek. As if sensing his presence she quickly turned around,

"Dad hurry he needs healing!"

"I don't know if I can."

"What!"

"Shhhh," said Piper as she held her daughter, "Leo can you at least try?"

"Sure I can _try_ but I just wanted her to know that it might not work," and with that he went over to Larek's unconscious body, placed his hands over Larek's heart and waited. After a couple of minutes he sighed and stood up.

"I'm sorry sweetie it's not working," Courtney, who had been quietly crying on her Mother's shoulder, came and knelt back down next to Larek.

"I don't understand. Why isn't it working? I mean he's not evil!"

"No but he is part Darklighter and I think that is what is stopping me from healing him. Why would we wish to heal those who are born to kill us? Even though I want to help him my powers just…won't let me. I'm sorry," and with that he stood up and left her with Larek. Courtney, barely able to keep back the tears, picked up Larek's hand and began to gently stroke his face. In an attempt to give her some privacy Prue, Phoebe and Paige left the room and headed for the kitchen whilst Isabelle, Piper and Leo stood outside in the hall.

"I'm so sorry baby…maybe if I had gotten there sooner you wouldn't be...be..." Unable to hold back any longer she places her head on his chest and began to cry. As her sobs died down she notices that orbs appeared over his chest, before she could register what was happening the orbs turn into...

"Faith? Sweetie what are you doing here?" As she goes to pick her up Faith begins to glow. "What the...?" All Courtney can do is watch in amazement as her daughter somehow manages to heal Larek's wounds; and after a couple of minutes Larek gasps for air and opens his eyes in surprise.

"How did you...?"

"I didn't. Faith did." Larek looked down onto his chest to see a once again sleeping Faith and couldn't help but let out a small laugh of relief and wonder, from leaving his lips.

"She did?"

"Yeah"

"How?"

"I don't know. But if I had to guess I think she sensed her Daddy was in trouble, and somehow the fact that she is part Darklighter enabled her to heal you." Larek slowly begins to sit up, with a lot of help from Courtney, and stares in wonder at his daughter.

"I can't believe how much she has grown!"

"I know. Seems too quick doesn't it?"

"Yeah... I just can't believe I haven't been here, for her or for you. I missed so much. I'm sorry I haven't been here."

"Don't be. You didn't _choose_ to leave willingly you had no _choice_! If you stayed it would have put all of us in jeopardy."

"I know but..."

"No 'buts'! There was no way you could have stayed with us and be safe. It would have put all of us in danger so you left to save your family, to save us and we both understand that. I don't know how Faith can understand that but I know she does. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"I know. It's just that I've missed you both so much."

"And we've missed you." Replied Courtney as she stroked his cheek. Looking into each other's eyes they both saw their love for each other and as if rehearsed they both leaned in and kissed. As they deepened the kiss they felt the fears and worries of the last few years drift away, and for once they knew that they and their relationship was safe.

Having heard voices coming from the living room, Piper, Leo and Isabelle went to see who was talking and were amazed to see Larek up and awake, and _kissing my daughter! _Thought Piper as she gave a not to discreet cough to let the couple know they had company.

"Sorry to interrupt but we still have the issue of Marcus to deal with."

"I'm more interested in finding out how you got healed," said Leo as he sat down on the armchair opposite Larek.

"It was Faith," replied Courtney. "Somehow she managed to heal him"

"Really how did she..."

"How about deal with the threat first _then_ sit down and have a chat about Faith's powers and where we or rather you guys are going from here?" asked Piper as she squeezed in next to Leo to allow Isabelle to sit on the other armchair.

"Of course!" Replied Larek, as he passed Faith over to Courtney. As she took Faith out of his arms she noticed the look of sorrow on his face.

"Baby what's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just, firstly I didn't plan on meeting your parents like this and secondly..."

"Secondly...?" encouraged Piper when Larek refused to go on.

"You may think me cold hearted for this and you might be right but secondly I think we have to vanquish...vanquish my parents. It's the only way to guarantee that they won't come after you or Faith again." Piper and Leo looked at each other uncomfortably before Leo replied,

"We already have. After Courtney and Isabelle got you out of the Underworld Prue and Paige, her aunts, vanquished your parents."

"Oh! Well that's… that's good. At least it's one less evil to worry about." Taking his hand Courtney leaned closer to him.

"Larek they were your parents it's okay to mourn their loss."

"Even if they did torture you for hours on end."

"Mum!"

"What it's true!"

"It's okay Courtney it is true. Anyway I mourned for them a long time ago."

"What do you mean?" asked Isabelle as she sat down next to Courtney.

"Well about four years ago they seemed to change. I mean before they were, well obviously evil, but they never really killed unless they were being hunted by Witches or Demons, not that the killing Witch's thing is okay or anything..."

"It's okay baby, we know what you mean."

"Well like I said about four years ago they changed. They stopped caring about me, or each other. They only became concerned with power and getting lots of it. They started to kill more and more innocents, they became..."

"Evil evil?" suggested Piper as she leaned forward.

"For lack of a better term, yeah." Curious about this Leo asked,

"Do you know what caused this change?"

"Not really, no. All I do know is that they met up with Marcus around about the same time."

"Marcus?" asked Courtney in surprise.

"Yup. He gets around huh?"

"So is it possible that he did something to change them?" asked Piper as she leaned back into the armchair.

"I don't know. All I do know is that they changed, and it was then that I mourned for who they were." Looking at Courtney he added, "The people your aunts vanquished weren't my parents. They were just hollow shells of what my parents used to be." As Leo leaned back next to his wife he added,

"So it looks like Marcus can manipulate evil as well as good. Which for us isn't a good thing. No pun intended."

"No doubt it was because of him that my parents changed. It's was like he managed to kill who they were and I will do everything I can to help you repay the favor."

"No you _won't_!"

"Mum come on...!" Waving off her daughters comment Piper carried on,

"That's not what I meant. He, sorry,_ you_ have only just recovered from near fatal injuries. I don't question your loyalty to us, I can see that you would never hurt Courtney or Faith; I'm questioning whether or not you would physically be up for the challenge. Which I don't think you are. However I have no objection to you staying here with Isabelle, Courtney and Faith."

"What!" yelled Courtney as she jumped up, carefully making sure she didn't drop Faith. "You can't do that. I wanted to be the one to vanquish him, to pay back the hell he has put us through!" Isabelle stood up and held Courtney's arm to make her look at her.

"Court he got the better of you last time."

"Because I wasn't prepared!"

"Still, it's obvious that he's dangerous. If he can kidnap you and erase your memories and give the forces of evil personality transplants we need to use our best; and we both know that that isn't you. It's your Mum and your aunts." With her anger in check Courtney sat back down.

"You're right, I know you're right it's just..."

"You wanted to get revenge for the hell he has put you through," added Larek as he smiled at her and held her hand.

"Precisely!"

"Well in the words of our great master Yoda 'anger young one leads to the dark side it does'." Unable to suppress a laugh Courtney finally relented.

"Okay fine." Said Courtney as she stood up, dragging Larek with her and beckoning Isabelle to follow.

"I cave, but you have to promise me one thing?"

"What's that?" asked Piper as she and Leo followed them into the hall.

"Make it hurt."

"I always do," replied Piper as she watched them go upstairs.

"Leo?"

"Hmm?"

"If they get married how on earth are we going to cope having a Darklighter-Warlock hybrid for a son-in law?"

"If we can cope having Cole as a brother-in law, we can cope with Larek. At least he isn't evil."

"True. And what about the Elders? Those two have been through hell already to be with each other"

"Literally"

"I know. It's just that I don't want the elders to mess with them like they did with us."

"I don't think we have to worry about that," said Leo as he took her in his arms. "Not with us around to make sure that they stay safe. Now let's not worry about them for the moment as I think we should be more concerned with what your sisters are up to."

Reluctantly Piper disengaged herself from Leo's arms and followed him out into the kitchen where they found Phoebe writing away at the table whilst Paige was working on a potion as Prue read to her the instruction from the Book of Shadows. Even though Piper had a pretty good idea what they were doing she thought it would still be a good idea to ask.

"So what have you three been getting up to?" Looking up from her note pad, Phoebe was the first to reply,

"I've been working on a couple of spells, one to vanquish an upper level demon, which is what we think Marcus is and the other is a mass vanquish spell, I mean who knows how many demons he has under his control."

"Okay and what about you two?"

"We're taking a leaf out of Courtney's book," replied Prue, as Paige added the last ingredient to the cauldron, causing the potion to explode in a cloud of smoke.

"Which is?" asked Leo as he cautiously made his way to the cauldron.

"We're making that lovely volatile potion your daughter used on you at her party," said Paige as she watched, with amusement, as Leo quickly retreated to the safety of his wife.

"Good" said Piper ticking off her 'Vanquishing to do list' with her fingers, "so we have an Upper Level Spell, along with the Mass Vanquish Spell and the Upper Level Vanquishing Potion"

"Which can also be used as a Mass Vanquishing Potion on Lower Level Demons," added Prue as she helped Paige bottle the potion.

"Right! Well I'm going to quickly go and grab the crystals and then we are all set"

"Crystals? What do you want them for?" asked Phoebe as she finished writing the last copy of the spell for her sisters, _after all these years you'd think we would have invested in an all-in-one scanner printer!_

"I want to make sure that this Marcus guy is the last on the Demonic chain and in order to do that we need to ask questions but to do that may require a bit of, shall we say, persuasion." Replied Piper as she retreated to the attic, leaving her sisters and Leo in the kitchen. Paige and Prue looked at each other then at Phoebe who voiced all their thoughts,

"I wouldn't want to be in Marcus' shoes right now. Having said that, that evil son of a bitch deserves everything he gets."

"Amen to that" said the other three in unison.

Back in the Underworld…


	12. Retribution

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter Twelve - Retribution

"I can't believe you morons let her escape!" Yelled Marcus as he paced in front of his troop of minions.

"With all due respect Boss we didn't know she was gonna get help from that hybrid Darklighter" Replied a lower level Warlock who had been foolish enough to speak.

"Oh really? Well then this is what I think of your brains!" yelled Marcus as he threw an energy ball at the Warlock, who screamed as he vanished in a tower of flames. "I pay you to follow my instructions! Not to think! And now because of your incompetence not only is the Witch out of my lair she is out of the Underworld and back at the Manor in the safety of her family!" screamed Marcus as he vanquished three more Warlocks, who had been unfortunate enough to be standing in the front row. As Marcus went to leave the cave he heard his minions scream in agony.

"What in the name of all things Evil?" he asked as he turned around, in time to see the last of his minions to go up in flames. In their place stood Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige with a look that could only be described as pure hatred on their faces.

"Umm I would love to stay and chat ladies but I'm afraid I have a prior engagement," said Marcus as he began to shimmer out.

"I don't think so! Crystals! Circle!" yelled Paige as she waved her hand from the box, containing the crystals, to Marcus, who was mid-shimmer. The crystals formed a perfect circle around Marcus, who was shoved back into his solid form.

"Now, now Marcus what's the rush?" asked Piper as she and her sisters moved in to surround Marcus who was now trapped within the Forcefield.

"You kidnapped my daughter Marcus, after that I would have thought that you would have been more than willing to answer a few questions for me."

"Questions? Well why didn't you say so? I can spare a few minutes for you lovely ladies. What would you like to know?"

"Well firstly" replied Prue as she moved in front of him, "why don't you tell us whom you're working for?"

"What! I am Marcus Affreux! I work for no-one!"

"Really?" asked Paige as she exchanged places with Prue "How could a low life Warlock like you come up with a plan like that? You sure as hell don't look smart enough to me."

"He might not be smart enough to think of the plan but he certainly looks stupid enough to follow it." Said Phoebe as she took Paige's place in front of Marcus. "I mean only an idiot would follow a plan that involved kidnapping an Elemental's child. Right Marcus?"

"An…"

"Elemental's child. What, are you deaf now?" replied Phoebe as she crossed her arms in an attempt to not only intimidate Marcus, which she was successfully doing, but also in an attempt to not laugh as she watched him stare open mouthed from one sister to the next.

"I didn't kidnap any Elemental's kid. I'm evil _not_ suicidal!"

"Really?"

"Yes! I put my hands up to stealing your sister's daughter; you know the _Charmed One's_ daughter, the Power of Three and all that shebang. I mean I know that's a vanquishable offense in your books and now that's coming back to bite me in the butt, but I'm no fool. Not to mention Elementals come in fours sweet cheeks and well the Power of Three tends to lean towards _three_ sisters."

"So are you innumerate as well as stupid?" asked Piper as she stood in front of him. _Damn this guy is not only an idiot but he's also way too full of himself_, she thought as she watched him trying not to squirm under her burning glare. "Look around you. How many Witches are in the room?"

"Four. But like I said you have to be sisters and the last time I checked big sis was still six feet under"

"Actually I was cremated and it's safe to say that words of my demise were extremely exaggerated." Replied Prue, with a satisfied smirk, as she watched Marcus look from one sister to another. _Like a trapped animal looking for a way to escape_, thought Prue.

"You're… you're Pr… Prue Halliwell?" stammered Marcus as he pointed a shaky finger at the sister in question.

"Yup! And didn't your Mother teach you that it is rude to point?" asked Prue, as she Telekinetically pulled his arm to his side.

"Look I didn't know okay? I came across these spells in my Fathers Grimoire; one was to suppress memories and the other was to force obedience out of who ever I cast the spell on. I thought they sounded like some powerful spells so I tried them out on a few warlocks. When they worked I moved on to some lower level Demons. Before I knew it I had my own troop of minions, made up of who ever and what ever I came across down here. That's when I got the idea of building up power to try to become the next Source"

"You were building your own power base? Using your minions as living batteries?" said Piper. She could see where this story was going. _He isn't a master mind, he's just an idiot that got lucky with a little help from Daddy's Grimoires_ thought Piper as she paced in front of Marcus, waving at him to continue.

"Yeah exactly! You see I began to think. If these spells worked so well on any level of e_vil_ how would they work on a being of _light_? That's when I thought of your charming, no pun intended, daughter. With such a varied power-base, as well as a strong family tree to call power from, she was the perfect target. I mean if I could turn her evil then I could turn anyone. I swear I had no idea…"

"That she would escape, get her memories back and get us to stop your fiendish plot." Interrupted Paige as she stood next to Piper, who tried not to giggle at her sister's use of the word fiendish. _Who says that anymore?_

"Yeah something like that."

"Well unfortunately for you she did. And I can assure you, even if you did finish putting your spells on my daughter I would have found a way to reverse it and then you would have been in even deeper shit than you are now because she would have torn you apart limb by limb before turning you over to me," said Piper in a cold indifferent voice as she watched Marcus wipe his, now sweaty, palms on his trouser legs.

"Now you are going to tell us where you keep your Grimoire."

"Why should I tell you that?" stammered Marcus in a very delayed attempt of bravado.

"Because if you don't, I do this," replied Piper as she removed the final crystal from the box and pushed it into the Forcefield; this caused the field to erupt with sparks of electricity which wrapped themselves around Marcus, causing him to scream in pain. After doing this for about thirty seconds Piper removed the crystal, which caused Marcus to collapse gasping for breath.

"Okay! Okay! It's in the next cave!" Marcus yelled as he pointed, with a rather shaky hand, to the tunnel on his left.

"Prue are you okay to watch him while we see if the book is there?" asked Piper as she walked to the indicated tunnel, followed closely by Paige.

"Sure, it's not like he's going anywhere," said Prue with a shrug as she went to look at a shelf full of jars containing mutilated body parts of various magical beings.

"Okay we'll be right back!" yelled Phoebe as she ran after her sisters who had stopped in the middle of a dark, moss covered cave.

"Why does evil always have to live in damp, dark not to mention cold caves?" asked Phoebe as she stood next to Paige. In front of then on a stone pedestal laid a very old, battered leather tome.

"The Grimoire?" asked Phoebe as she peered over to Piper, who was pulling potions out of her pockets.

"Yup!" replied Piper getting ready to throw the vials.

"You might want to stand back," warned Paige, "I gave those potions one hell of a kick if you know what I mean?"

"Thanks for the warning," replied Piper as they moved twelve paces back, to stand behind a nearby boulder. "Okay here it goes." With that Piper took a deep breath and threw the potions onto the book. They all watched as the vials broke, releasing their volatile contents over the Grimoire causing it to go up in flames. In less than 2minutes the whole book had been turned to ash.

"Now we know no-one else can use those spells. No one deserves to be used as puppets be it Witches or Warlocks. Speaking of which what do you ladies say to vanquishing ourselves a Warlock?" Asked piper as she stood up.

"I say hell yeah!" Laughed Paige as she linked arms with her sisters and lead them out of the cave back to Prue and the soon to be deceased Warlock.

Back in the Manor…


	13. Probation

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed or the characters of Charmed. I only came up with the plot and any of the 'non-Charmed' characters. This is written purely for entertainment and not for profit.

Chapter Thirteen

Leo was slowly pacing back and forth in front of the hearth as Courtney and Isabelle walked into the living room.

"Hey dad, any news?"

"None yet but they shouldn't be much longer." Pausing his pacing he turned towards the girls and noticed, "Larek's not with you?"

"No he's sleeping upstairs with Faith. I swear she could sleep through a Demon attack," laughed Courtney as she sat on the settee with Isabelle. "So Dad, Larek and I were wondering what you and Mum planned to do…about us that is." Feeling his daughter's unease Leo took her hand as he perched himself onto the arm of the settee.

"What can we do? You love him and it's clear that he loves you too. Today's events prove that, so his love and loyalty aren't in question. It's just that having a half Darklighter in the house makes me uneasy."

"But you've had Faith in this house since she was born and you were fine. You never even noticed!"

"That's different she's my granddaughter, she has never been trained to kill me or your siblings and she's only a quarter Darklighter so her Darklighter powers are low."

"For now, for all we know her Darklighter powers will grow along with her Whitelighter and Witch powers. Plus Larek has never once harmed a Whitelighter or an innocent with his powers."

"I guess but still…"

"Dad please! I'm asking you to trust me on this. Not him… me. Can you at least do that?" pleaded Courtney. Leo sighed as he looked into her eyes, _eyes that look so much like her Mother's and hold just as much emotions too,_ thought Leo. After a couple of minutes contemplation he finally smiled at his daughter and said,

"Sure. I can trust you with this, your Mother I'm not to sure about, but don't worry about her I'm sure we can think of someway to make her see reason about this if we tag team her," at that Courtney laughed and tackled her father into a hug. Just as he returned her hug the room filled with orbs, indicating the sisters' return. "About time!" mumbled Leo as he grabbed his wife into a tight hug.

"How did it go?" asked Isabelle as she joined the sisters, who laughed as Courtney pushed her out of the way so she could hug Piper. "Thanks Court! Oh and now that I think of it thanks for telling me about Prue… a.k.a. Amanda … who's only like my _favorite _Photographer! Nice to meet you by the way" Isabelle added as she shook the hand of her idol whilst trying very hard not to let loose a silly fan squeal.

"Later Iz!" moaned Courtney as she playfully pulled the grinning girl away from her aunt. "However that was a very good question. How did it go?"

"Piece of cake!" replied Paige as she dropped onto an armchair. "We destroyed his Grimoire as well as him, so no-one will be getting their hands on those spells again."

"So he's really gone?" asked Larek, who had come down unheard and stood in the doorway.

"Yes he's gone," answered Piper, as she carefully watched him absorb the news that the Warlock responsible for his parents demise and later deaths, was finally gone. After taking a deep breath he finally nodded his head, showing his acceptance of the news. Seeing how tired everyone looked Phoebe gave a small cough then suggested,

"Perhaps we should all head home so Piper can chastise these two in private. Not to mention Isabelle your parents must be worried?"

"Hardy, har, har" exclaimed Piper as she collapsed onto the settee.

"That's okay," replied Isabelle, "I've kept mum up to date so she knows what's happening."

"Okay cool. Well on that note…" Phoebe turned towards Paige, "care to give us a lift back?"

"Sure, why not. You know I think I should start charging you guys." Joked Paige as she grabbed Prue and Phoebe's hands. "Hey Izzy, do you need a lift?"

"No thanks Paige, I'll just orb myself home."

"Okey dokey. And we're off!" And with that she orbed out.

"Thanks for the help guys!" yelled Piper to the disappearing orbs.

"I think I should be heading off too." Said Isabelle as she hugged Courtney. "Glad you're okay Court."

"Me too. Thanks for what you did today Iz."

"Nah don't mention it. All in a Wicca day's work right? Besides what are friends for?" Then with a wave of her hands and a flourish of lights she was gone. Courtney walked over to Larek, taking his hand into hers then turned towards her parents. Both couples stared at each other for few minutes before Piper huffed, stood up and walked over to Larek who she then poked in the chest, making him jump.

"Okay Larek, consider yourself on probation. You so much as set a toe out of line you won't have to just deal with me but our entire family. Do I make my self clear?" Larek quickly nodded his head whilst trying to stop his body from shaking under Piper's glare.

"I would never do anything to hurt my family or yours. Courtney and Faith mean everything to me."

"We'll see." Piper then turned on her heel and made her way towards the stairs.

"You're just doing the over protective thing right?" Yelled Courtney as she turned to look at her Mother.

"Yup! Mother's privilege, as I'm sure you'll find out when Faith starts to date… Night!" And with that she went upstairs to her room.

"Yeah like I'm _ever_ gonna let her _date_," grumbled Courtney as she turned towards her Father.

"Well that was easier than I thought." Laughed Leo as he hugged Courtney and then shook Larek's hand. "Welcome to the family and say goodbye to all that is normal in your life." Joked Leo as he followed his wife upstairs. Both Larek and Courtney stared at the spot Leo had just left, in shock.

"Talk about a lack of a reaction," giggled Courtney as she turned to face Larek, placing her arms around his waist. This seemed to bring him out of his trance as he smiled down to her and engulfed her in a tight embrace.

"True, but I rather that than your Mum blowing me up!"

"That is also true." Smiling she tucked her head under his chin as they held each other. "I can't tell you how happy I am right now," sighed Courtney as she leaned back so she could see Larek's face.

"Me too. Now there is only one question left."

"What's that?"

"When do you want to get married?" Hearing that Courtney couldn't help but laugh.

"How about we allow my parents to adjust to you staying here before we get into that. I don't think we should push our luck any more than we already have."

"Okay," replied Larek as he picked Courtney up bridal style and orbed them upstairs.


End file.
